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A recent study published by a Duke University economist revealed North Carolina could save $11 million annually if it dropped the death penalty. Philip J. Cook, a professor at Duke University's Sanford School of Public Policy, calculated the extra state costs of the death penalty during fiscal years 2005 and 2006. He calculated over $21 million worth of expenses that would have been saved if the death penalty had been repealed. The total included extra defense costs for capital cases in the trial phase, extra payments to jurors, post-conviction costs, resentencing hearings, and the extra costs to the prison system. This conservative estimate did not include resources that would have been freed up in the Office of the Appellate Defender and the North Carolina Supreme Court, the extra time spent by prosecutors in capital cases, and the costs to taxpayers for federal appeals.

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North Carolina is just one of the many states in America that uses the death penalty. Death sentences handed out and executions performed have attained brand new lows, this is according to study released by the Death penalty Information Center. Costs of administering the death penalty and ethical and legal worries are imagined to be the biggest factors. On the other hand, a Duke University study found the state of North Carolina could save $11 million per year by abolishing the death penalty in favor of life imprisonment without parole. (See: http://www.newsytype.com/13999-executions-death-sentences/ for more info)